Environmental issues play key role in packaging trends

“The main purpose of packaging
is to preserve and protect
the content,” says Andrew
Marthinusen, executive director of the
Packaging Council of South Africa
(Pacsa). “Therefore, when changes
to packaging are considered, the
entire supply chain must be taken
into consideration; including handling
and transportation.”
Independent research has shown
that without the benefits of packaging,
refrigeration and transport, the losses
between grower and consumers are
as much as 44% in the developing
world compared with little as 2% in the
developed world with those facilities.
“The packaging industry’s biggest
challenge is to retain its core purpose
but, in line with all industries, it needs
to review all its production processes
to protect the environment by avoiding
unnecessary waste – particularly in the
area of energy and water.
“Dealing specifically with packaging,
designers need to consider returnable
packaging, reduce packaging mass
wherever possible and avoid obvious
over-packaging. To help solve the
problem designers should utilise
recycled material in packaging. This
will hugely reduce the carbon footprint
of the pack compared to a virgin pack,”
Marthinusen explains.
“We should not only measure
companies in terms of the final waste that
is produced. The packaging industry is
not doing a bad job and about 41% of the
the entire packaging and paper industry
is recycled through voluntary initiatives.
One of the biggest problems we have to
contend with is the use of multilayers
consisting of different materials during the
design and manufacturing of packaging
which can make recycling impossible.
“The current economic fireball that
has hit the world has put the recycling
industry under tremendous pressure
since the prices of virgin raw materials
have collapsed thus making some
recyclable sectors unviable. This is a
worldwide problem that in the short
term may set back the entire industry,”
Marthinusen concludes.